Brett's Lisbon Adventure

Date	General info
03/26/09	Got some bad news folks. The power converter that i use to charge my laptop is dead. It blew up last night so I don't have a the ability to upload pictures of movies. I am currently typing this on my phone. I went to the castle yesterday. It was wonderful. Well this is probably all you will from me till I get back to the land of 110volt
03/25/09	Sometime Morning all. Tuesday was pretty much the same as the rest of the week. Had the conference all day. A few of us (Vera, Christoph, Eric, Anna, and Borris) went out for supper. We got recommendations to go to a place called Docas. Docas is a nice place right by the river and the bridge. We walked around and decided on a place to eat. Our final decision was a place called Ocean 5 (location). The meal was good, fish of course. I had red snapper and another type. The red snapper was prepared in a portuguese style (in a light tomato sauce baked with onions and potatoes). I think I have ate more fish in the last three days then I normally do in a month. The hotel had a spectacular view. It was located right on the dock. Across the river ran a big bridge which looks very close to the golden gate bridge in San Franscisco. As well you could see the very big statue of Jesus across the river. Tuesday Supper from Brett Park on Vimeo After supper we went to an irish pub on the waterfront. The beer and conversation was good. However, after a while a performer played the classics on his guitar (hotel california for example) which made it hard to talk. We listened to a few songs then disappeared out to the waterfront and ended up at a salsa club called Havannah. We hung around there for a while watching dancing and playing pool. It was a fun time. Then we took a taxi back to the hotel (the cab driver had no idea where he was going) and went to bed.
03/24/09	12:35 AM The first day of the conference had its interesting points, and its non interesting points. The first keynote was very good and a couple of the sessions were interesting. Some of them dragged on, but I guess that is par for the course. The lunch that was provided was mostly good. I had duck fried rice (essentially) and a few other dishes. I tried something .... not sure what it was. I took two of them and I would say they looked like a piece of fish spine (about one inch in diameter). Out of the two I ate one without throwing up, I left the other on the plate. Not entirely sure what it was, but I don't know if I've ever had an item that tasted that bad. O, and the jetlag. Well, this morning I struggled to stay awake for a while (which perhaps is not out of the ordinary) however it disappeared around 10 (so 4am Sask time) and I think I might have it licked. O, as for yesterday, my mother wanted to know more information about the people (as in whom was from where). Well, the two german guys were Marvin (on the left) and ..... not sure at the moment. The lady is from Poland (now in the UK) and she is named Anna. Also, the italian man (whom is not around) is named Luca. Hopefully if I write the names down now (which probably don't matter to you) I will be able to remember them... I do have a bad memory. Anyways, today had a different assortment of people. We took the metro down to about the same place ( Location) and walked around looking for an establishment to eat in. The people in this video (from left to right) are Eric (France), Christoph (France), Anna (Poland/UK), Vera (Netherlands), and later on Nils(Germany). Finding Supper - Monday from Brett Park on Vimeo. After passing a few, one was settled on. Tonight I had swordfish in a pineapple sauce. It was very good. Most portuguese places sell fish and meat (about half and half). So far I have only had the fish, avoiding the goat, rabbit, and lamb. Along with supper we had some cerveja, Super Bock (beer made in Portugal). Monday Supper from Brett Park on Vimeo. After supper we found a small ... guess you would call it a pub. We had a couple of cerveja and were all trying to figure out the nationality and age of the people in the establishment. After some discussion, Christoph finally asked. Indeed, it was a large group (25 or so) of Danish students on a school trip. It was quite odd as they were all 14 or 15 (apparently 14 is the legal drinking age). Well, that is about all for today, I am off to bed. Here are a couple pictures from the establishment.
03/23/09	8:45 AM The flights all went well. They were a little long though. By the time I got to the hotel I was rather tired, but knew I had to muster on so that my clock could "reset". After getting my room I took a shower cause I was kinda stinky from sitting in a plane for many hours (which was quite hot I might add). After getting all hygenic, I came and registered for my conference. I decided to hang out and try to meet some people. That went pretty good. We eventually got a group of 5 people to go out for supper with. Quite the arrangement of people, two germans, one italian, on polish, and I. We went from the hotel and took the subway to downtown. After wandering around a bit we found a smaller fish/meat place. I had black grouper, it was very tasty. After that we got some pastry. It was a pastry filled with custard that was flambeed with icing sugar on top. Pretty good. After that we came to the hotel and went to sleep. Had breakfast this morning at the buffet at the hotel, I must say it was pretty good. Hotel Room in Lisbon from Brett Park on Vimeo Downtown Lisbon from Brett Park on Vimeo